Filling up with water in a motorhome: where to find drinking water on the road

In § 10 no. 1, the Trinkwasserverordnung (TrinkwV, German Drinking Water Ordinance) answers the question of how far the water supplier's responsibility extends. The quality requirements apply where the water leaves the point of use. Up to the tap, it is therefore the operator of the installation who is responsible. Where water is supplied commercially or publicly, the operator is monitored by the Gesundheitsamt (public health office).

From the tap onwards, the camper takes over. In motorhomes, caravans and campervans, the hose, adapter, filler neck and tank do not appear on any official list. The water quality on board is therefore determined by the last few metres between the tap and the tank, not just by the choice of water point. What then happens in the tank is covered in the article on water treatment in a motorhome.

The first 3 rows come with proof of quality. If you fill up there, you get water from an installation that is required to demonstrate it to an authority. The last 3 rows come with none.

Under § 10 no. 1 of the Drinking Water Ordinance, the boundary lies at the outlet of the draw-off point. The provision explicitly includes vehicles. It refers to drinking water supplied through pipes on board land vehicles, watercraft or aircraft. This water must meet the requirements at the outlet of the draw-off points.

On the road, this results in a clear division. Upstream of the tap is a system with an operator, a notification requirement and an authority. Downstream of the tap is your own installation. Legally, it is a mobile water supply system under § 2 no. 2 (d).

What remains of this for private use is described in the implementation guidance issued in May 2024 by the Ministerium für Ernährung, Ländlichen Raum und Verbraucherschutz Baden-Württemberg (MLR, Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection). For purely private use, 3 obligations do not apply. Gone are the notification under § 11, the record-keeping under § 25 and the duty to take action under § 48(1). The basic obligations under § 47(1) and § 48(2) also apply privately. Anyone who rents out their vehicle is fully subject to the operator obligations. An overview of the legal situation can be found in the article on the Drinking Water Ordinance.

According to the MLR's interpretation, a campsite operated seasonally counts as a temporary water supply system. The legal basis is § 2 no. 2 (f). This results in 2 obligations for the operator: notification under § 11 and testing under § 29. The public health office monitors the system under §§ 54 and 55.

This makes the campsite the best-documented water source on the road. The operator can usually present a test result. The competent authority knows the system.

Since January 2023, public access to drinking water has been enshrined in law. Since then, services of general interest have also included drinking water from the mains in public places. The legal basis is Section 50(1) sentence 2 of the Wasserhaushaltsgesetz (WHG, German Federal Water Act). The legislator makes the obligation subject to 2 provisos: technical feasibility and proportionality in terms of need and local circumstances. The provision implements Article 16(2) of the EU Drinking Water Directive.

At the time of the amendment, the stock of fountains was small. A study by the Umweltbundesamt (UBA, German Environment Agency) from June 2026 puts the number of drinking fountains in Germany in 2022 at around 1,300. Towns and municipalities had installed them voluntarily. Legal literature now interprets the provision broadly. According to the same study, since the amendment such fountains must be built and maintained in all towns and municipalities.

In terms of hygiene, a public drinking fountain is not a grey area. According to the MLR's implementation guidance, a drinking fountain operated all year round counts as a building water supply system. One operated seasonally counts as a temporary water supply system. Both classifications entail the obligations of the Drinking Water Ordinance.

For a motorhome, the flow rate remains the limiting factor. A drinking fountain fills bottles and jerrycans. It is not built for a 100-litre tank.

Petrol stations have 2 types of water connection, and only one is suitable for the fresh water tank. The tap next to the air pump is intended for screenwash and vehicle cleaning. It supplies water from the same in-house installation, but it is neither intended nor marked as a draw-off point for drinking water.

It is still worth asking. Truck stops and motorway service areas with their own motorhome stopover sometimes also have such a station, usually for a fee. Where there is none, the toilet facilities remain. Their washbasin is connected to the same tested installation as the establishment's kitchen.

One point speaks against going via washbasin and jerrycan: the effort. 100 litres in 10-litre jerrycans means 10 trips. And every transfer is another opportunity for germs.

Surface water is not drinking water, and no filter stage in a motorhome changes that. The Drinking Water Ordinance has a separate pathway for raw water. It includes testing obligations, processes under § 20 and ongoing monitoring. A cartridge filter on the filler neck covers not a single one of these steps.

Specifically, 3 things are missing. Nobody knows the inputs in the catchment area, the content of dissolved substances or the result of the treatment. A stream below a pasture carries different germs from a stream in a forest, and both look the same. The overview of filtration technologies explains which technology reaches which group of substances.

The situation is different for water that nobody drinks. If you take on water for washing up or flushing the toilet, keep it separate from the fresh water tank. Taking the water must be agreed with the owner of the land. Water law regulates abstraction from bodies of water, and it is by no means permitted everywhere.

There are 2 types of directory to choose from, and they answer different questions. The Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW, German Association of Energy and Water Industries) runs trinkwasser-unterwegs.de, a directory of public drinking water points. It can be saved to your home screen as an app. The data comes from the water suppliers themselves.

Alongside it are the directories of the camping community. Park4night, Campercontact, Stellplatz.info, Bordatlas and Alpacacamping list motorhome service points with user reviews. An entry there proves that water is available. It says nothing about the quality of the water point. Nobody checks it on behalf of the app.

The two types of directory lead to quite different results. If you search for a disposal station, you will find facilities with a fresh water connection. If you search for a drinking fountain, you will find water points for bottles.

The published measurements of legionella in motorhomes show the taps to be more contaminated than the tanks. In 2013, Litwin and colleagues examined a total of 20 vehicles at 3 campsites in the USA and took 28 samples. Legionella was found in 4 of 20 vehicles, in 4 of 17 taps and in 1 of 11 tanks. The highest value was 25 colony-forming units per millilitre. The authors themselves call the work a case report with a small sample.

The finding matches the conditions on board. Between uses, a water hose lies in the storage compartment. It stays damp inside and warms up, and its ends drag across the ground at the water point. Afterwards, everything that has grown inside ends up in the fresh water tank. Which bacteria turn up in tap water depends less on the waterworks than on these last few metres.

Against the biofilm in the hose, 3 measures work immediately, and none of them costs much. A dedicated drinking water hose made of food-grade material is stored with both ends closed. Before filling, the water is run into the drain for around 30 seconds. This flushes the stagnant water out of the water point and hose. The hose is reserved for drinking water and never goes near the disposal inlet. Heat accelerates all growth, which is why the temperature of tap water also matters in the storage compartment.

Regarding the material itself, § 14 of the Drinking Water Ordinance sets out 4 requirements. Materials in contact with drinking water must not reduce health protection either directly or indirectly. They must not impair colour, odour or taste. They must not promote the growth of microorganisms. And they must not release substances in greater quantities than unavoidable. By this standard, a garden hose from the DIY store is not a drinking water hose.

A technical presentation on safety devices published by the Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches (DVGW, German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water) sums up the point in one sentence. It states: “Vehicle water tanks are not sterile either!” The presentation deals with drawing firefighting water and assigns firefighting water to categories 4 and 5. There is no such classification for the fresh water tank in a motorhome, but the starting situation is the same.

In practice, this results in a simple rule. The hose hangs above the filler neck, not in it and not in the water. Anyone who submerges it removes the air gap and connects the public mains directly to their own tank. If the pressure in the pipe drops, tank water can flow back.

In all 3 examples, a full fresh water tank weighs more than the minimum payload. And that is before luggage and passengers are even counted. What your own vehicle can really carry is stated in the registration certificate as the difference between the maximum permissible mass and the unladen mass.

Both factors lead to the same practice. Topping up more often beats filling to the brim once, and your own water consumption sets the pace. A supply for 2 to 3 days keeps the water within the recommended interval and saves payload. How to reduce consumption is explained in the article on saving water in a motorhome.

Within the European Union, the same framework applies to drinking water. The EU Drinking Water Directive of December 2020 binds all member states to common minimum requirements. Its Article 16(2) requires measures for access to water in public spaces. Germany has implemented the article in the Wasserhaushaltsgesetz (Federal Water Act).

Differences lie in the details of implementation and in local practice. The labelling of non-drinking water points follows national law, and the networks vary in age. There are separate articles on individual destinations, for example on tap water in Italy, Croatia and France.

Outside the EU, the framework no longer applies. There, the information provided by the local supplier is decisive. If in doubt, you are left with a germ filter and boiled water for preparing food.